UPDATE: Early Thursday morning, DPS and the DEA announced they have reached a tentative agreement. The decision comes after a marathon, 18 hour negotiation session Wednesday.

The Dayton Education Association released the following statement.

We will have more on this decision on Fox 45 in the morning, Thursday,

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UPDATE: As of midnight, the two parties were still at the negotiating table.

They sat down to begin negotiations around 9 a.m. Wednesday. Previously, they had said they won't leave the table until a deal is reached.

Stay with FOX 45 for the latest on these talks and the potential strike.

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DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF/WRGT) – Dayton Public Schools and the Dayton Education Association sat down together Wednesday for their last negotiation session before a potential teacher strike.

If no deal is reached by the end of the day, teachers will officially be on strike at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

FOX 45 was there when both sides went in to begin negotiations, but neither side provided comment.

DPS did speak out for the first time Tuesday night, as they broke down the numbers on their side of the fight.

They said when it comes to salary, they simply do not have the money to pay what the union is asking for without sending the district into the red.

As they sat down for the last session, Senator Sherrod Brown (D – OH) and other state and local lawmakers began to put pressure on both sides to come to an agreement for the sake of the students.

“If both sides need extra help, I think there are a lot of us that are willing to step in and help,” State Representative Jeff Rezabek (R – District 43) said.

“We need to have good paying teachers, simply because we want to make sure that our teachers in our district, Dayton public, stay in Dayton public,” he continued, “and not go find better paying jobs elsewhere. We want to keep the best teachers in this district.”

“What we’re really asking is for both sides to show leadership,” Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said. “This is really important to a lot of people watching, deciding; making their decisions about where they send their kids to school, and you know we want to get to the other side of this.”

The teacher’s union hasn’t spoken out about the salary yet, but FOX 45’s Kelly May has reached out for comment.

There are plans in place if no deal is reached to put certified substitutes in every classroom and safety officers outside, just in case tensions rise on the picket line.

FOX 45 does have a crew downtown waiting to hear from both sides about a potential deal, or if teachers will trade in their classrooms and chalkboards for signs.